Figure 1.--Here we see Belgian children after school in Riviere durig June 1904. They are asmiring a new motor car. Notice that only about half the children war smocks. The smocks they are wearing all seem to be the same back-buttoning style and color, suggesting a school rule. We are not sure where Riviere was located, but it seems to be Wallonia--thevFrench speaking area of Belgium. Source: Libary of Congress..

HBC believes that smock became common in Belgium at about the same time as in France--the 1870s. We have, however, very little actual information. Very limited information is available at this time on Belgian smocks. We do not know if the smocks were introduced by law. This was the case in France when smocks were introduced by the French Third Republic as a measure to make the schools more eqalitarian. HBC had begun to collect some basic chronological date. We believe that Belgian school smocks basically followed French trends. Belgium of course was a monarchy. Thus we do not know if smocks appeared in Belgium by government decree or just the cultural influence of France. Hopefully some of our Belgian readers will provide us some infprmation on this. Some indivisual schools may have required them. We do not yet have a large enough Belgian archive to know how common it was. Or to know if smocks were required or just an option available to parents. We do know that large numbers of Belgian school children did wear smocks. The styles we see at the turn-of-the century seem all back-buttoning smocks. We see some with white collars and bows and some without collars. Our archive is very limited so we are not sure about which was more prevalent. We see light abd dark colors. Some images suggest tht they wserw not required. HBC believes that the styles and popularity was similar in France and Belgium, at least among French speakers. We are sure, however, to what extent French styles were worn by Flemish boys and if this changed over time. Smocks were commonly worn by school children through the 1940s. We think that thatv smocks were worn into the 1950s, but do not think that they were very common.

The 19th Century

As far as we know, Belgian school children did not wear smocks in the early-19th century. We are not sure about mid-century. HBC believes that smock became common in Belgium at about the same time as in France--the 1870s. We have, however, very little actual information. Very limited information is available at this time on Belgian smocks. We do not know if the smocks were introduced by law. This was the case in France when smocks were introduced by the French Third Republic as a measure to make the schools more eqalitarian. HBC had begun to collect some basic chronological date. We believe that Belgian school smocks basically followed French trends. Belgium of course was a monarchy. Thus we do not know if smocks appeared in Belgium by government decree or just the cultural influence of France. Hopefully some of our Belgian readers will provide us some infprmation on this. Some indivisual schools may have required them. We do not yet have a large enough Belgian archive to know how common it was. Or to know if smocks were required or just an option available to parents.

The 20th Century

Early 20th century (1900-19)

We do have some information on smocks during the early-20th century. We note quite a number of Belgian boys wearing school snocks in the period before and during World War I. We are unsure if there was any government regulations. The limited number of imafes we have archived suggests that not all boys wore smock, but many did. The styles seem similar--all back buttoning smocks. Collars and collsars differed. An image on our early-20th centiry chronology page shows boys wearing their school smocks with wide white collars and floppy bows on an outing. The school smocks look dark blue or black. One bow looks like it might have been red.The styles we see at the turn-of-the century seem all back-buttoning smocks. We see other boys wearing smocks without collars and bows. Our archive is very limited so we are not sure about which was more prevalent. We see light abd dark colors. Some images suggest that smocks were not required. HBC believes that the styles and popularity was similar in France and Belgium, at least among French speakers. We are sure, however, to what extent French styles were worn by Flemish boys and if this changed over time.

Inter-war and war era (1920-45)

Smocks were commonly worn by school children through the 1940s. We do not see them to any extent in the 50s.

Post-war era (1946-69)

We think that that smocks were worn into the 1950s, but do not think that they were very common. The Belgian sewing and fashion magazine "Vrouw en Huis" ("Woman and Home") was an important source of fashion information for Belgian and Dutch mothers. This school smock appeared in a 1952 issue and was for both boys and girls and looks similar to school smocks being worn at the time in France at the time. The smocks appear in some of the sane material and patterns. Notice how the pleating in the boy's school smock (figure 1), is a continuation of the pleating in the empiècement above the waistline. Mamy smocks had smocking here. Before the War, this smock might have had a back tieing bow. After the War boys more commonly had short waist straps that buttoned in the back. A reader reports that smocks were worn in Flanders well into the 1950s. "I remember a school nearby my boyhood home were boys wore gray front-butonning smocks with a sewn-on waistband that ran only halfway (backside). This was a primary school run by the local council in a suburb of Antwerp. Smocks were not, at that time, worn in the more prestigious schools located in the city and run by the clergy."